The Wounds A Word Opens
by IShouldBeWriting
Summary: Connor's theory of convergence is right.  And this time Jess has gotten caught in the middle, with truly nasty results.  The next in my "Breakable" series, this follows "Messengers"


~~oOOo~~

"A broken bone can heal, but the wound a word opens can fester forever." -Jessamyn West

~~oOOo~~

"This is absolute chaos," Becker spit out through gritted teeth, "remind me again, Connor; how exactly did you end up responding to an anomaly alert without proper backup and with our field co-ordinator in tow?"

"Well if either you or Matt had been answering your mobiles, this wouldn't have happened," Connor snapped back tersely.

"Look, Connor," Becker ground out as he took another turn far faster than he should have, "I didn't realize I'd left my mobile in the truck and the unveiling of Matt's father's headstone was today so he wasn't on call. Lester's sent a company of the ARC's men out to meet you and I'm on my way. Now can we please get back to it?"

The tension between himself and Connor was still present more than a week after their confrontation in the ARC's med centre. Connor remained fiercely protective of Jess, preventing Becker from having any opportunity to speak with her alone. For her part, Jess had avoided him and was painfully quiet on the rare instances she was in Becker's presence. He knew that he'd been stupid, that he'd hurt her, but had yet to figure out how to best make amends.

Which brought Becker back to why he hadn't had his mobile with him; he'd been visiting Father Ferrick again in the hopes that talking with his former mentor would help him get his head straight. They'd parted ways when the seminary bells called the Father away to vespers. Becker returned to his truck to see a frantic blinking message light on his mobile. He'd flipped it open to see the text and the bottom had nearly dropped out of his world. Lester's precise and succinct words had cut Becker apart: "Abby Connor Jess en route to creature incursion. Matt offline. Respond immediately". The message had been 15 bloody minutes old by the time he received it.

The incursion was a pack of Coelophysis, not the Deinonychus that the tactical team originally thought it to be based on Connor's description. None of them realized until much later that the description didn't match the database perfectly. And both Connor and Abby were too busy tracking prints through forest underbrush to point out that the creatures they were dealing with didn't have feathers. By the time they'd realized the mistake, the damage had been done. Abby, Connor, and Jess had been effectively split up and the tactical team was more than 10 minutes away.

"Abby," Jess voice came tentatively over the comms.

"Yeah, Jess," Abby responded quickly, her voice sounded unsteady as she scrambled up a rocky incline.

"How large did you think the pack was that came through the anomaly?"

"It was hard to tell with the way the tracks wove back over each other, why?"

"Can you tell how many of them you're tracking now?"

"Looks like maybe three or four," Abby replied.

"Where'd the rest of them go?" Jess asked quietly from her position near the car.

"I've got another three or four here, I think, but the tracks have just gone into a stream," Connor supplied.

"Lester, where does that stream go?" Abby asked quickly.

"It heads south west back toward the car park where Jess is," came his reply.

Abby swore violently.

"Jess, get in the car and stay there. I think Connor's group has doubled back on us."

"Right," Jess replied and they could hear her opening the car door through the comms.

"I'm coming back your way, Jess. Hold tight till I get there, yeah?"

Becker realized with an ache that the Connor who had stood up to him for Jess, the man who's solid and sure voice he could hear now over the comms, was nothing like the gently fumbling geek he'd been when Becker first joined the ARC. Time in the Cretaceous had added tracking to Abby's considerable list of skills. For Connor, their time away had subtracted: taking away the innocence he'd held for so much longer than most men do. Suddenly Becker understood why Connor had been so quick to intercede on Jess' behalf. Connor knew what Jess had that allowed her to be the bright and bubbly presence they'd all grown to rely on. Jess was the only one of them who still had a sense of wonder and innocence.

"Um, Connor, have you any idea what sort of noises these creatures make?"

Despite trying to remain professional, to be calm in the face of their situation, Jess' voice sounded so very small. It made the hairs on the back of Becker's neck stand on end and he realized with apprehension that what he was hearing was fear. Heedless of the evening rush hour traffic around him, he put his foot down on the accelerator as he continued to listen helplessly to the conversation.

"Honestly I don't know Jess. Any theories paleontologists have of what dinosaurs might have sounded like are just that; theories. There's not enough preserved muscle with most of the fossil records to accurately reconstruct vocal cords."

"I can now safely tell you this particular dinosaur makes chittering and whistling noises."

Abby's sharp inhalation was just barely heard before they all began talking at once. Becker finally whistled sharply into his earpiece to bring everyone to silence.

"Talk to me, Jess. What do you see?"

"There are 5 of them. About 3 meters long and a meter and a half or so tall. Tough looking skin, pointy head, stands sort of like a raptor, with short front legs, a long tail at the back, and I think 4 claws. They're circling the car –"

Jess didn't get to finish whatever she'd been about to say. Becker could hear a loud thump over the comms and an answering frightened squeak from Jess.

"Keep talking, Jess," he tried to keep his voice under control, reassuring and steady, "the tactical team is almost there."

"One of them just rammed the car. They're all off to one side now. I don't –"

The crashing, crunching, shattering sound that filled the comms was terrifying. Yet again voices were all instantly clamoring over each other in a nonsensical babble. For Becker, the voice he wanted to hear most was the one that was ominously silent.

"Jess, Jess, can you hear me?" he made his voice hard and commanding to be heard above the din. "Abby, Connor, get back to the car park immediately. I do not want either of you to engage these creatures alone, do you hear me?"

As both Abby and Connor confirmed and the comms went silent again, Becker breathed a sigh of relief. He could hear muffled sobbing in the background. A few moments later, the sobbing quieted and a crackling static was heard momentarily followed by Jess' voice.

"Hurts," she sobbed quietly.

"I'm here, Jess, I'm here."

For a few minutes, all that Becker could hear was sobbing and it tore him to pieces. He should have been there. If only he hadn't flown off the handle about something so stupid as her age, he would have been there with her, protecting her. Suddenly nothing else mattered. Not Connor, not Father Ferrick and his theology, not the demons inside his own head. All Becker wanted was to be by Jess' side.

"Come on, Jess, talk to me. "

"Hurts so much, "she whimpered.

"I know," he soothed, "I know. Where does it hurt Jess?" he coaxed, trying to keep his voice steady through his own fear.

"Mmmm, head and shoulder and leg; I can't get it out from under the steering column."

"Ambulance has been dispatched, Captain," Lester's voice interjected quietly, "and one of the tactical team has medic's training."

"Can you see where the dinosaurs are?" Becker asked, forcing down a laugh at how ridiculous that question would sound absolutely anywhere else. "What did they do?"

"They're circling the car again. They rammed it. Rolled it right over. I can't get out and oh god, it hurts so much."

"Jess, can you reach the glove box? There's a gun inside." Abby asked between panting breaths. It sounded like she was running flat out.

They could hear Jess continue sobbing with pain as she moved around. The snick and thump of a latch being opened and something heavy falling outward was reassuring before Jess replied.

"I've got it. Abby, is it loaded? I didn't see any ammunition fall out and my right arm's not working right so I can't load it."

"It's already loaded," Abby replied shortly and Becker could hear the sound of her footsteps change as she hit pavement instead of dry leaves and brush.

"Just breath deep and focus on one at a time," Becker instructed. "Its just like target shooting."

He heard Jess take a couple of deep shuddering breaths, trying to regain control through the haze of pain. The sound of the safety being released on the gun told him everything he needed to know.

"Come on, "he murmured encouragingly, "just like targets. You've gotten quite good at those. Deep breath, hold it and focus, then release."

The crack of the first bullet firing sounded unerringly loud through the comms but the short inhuman cry that followed was the best thing Becker could have hoped to hear.

"Well done, Jess! Well done. Come on now. Focus and get the next one before they regroup."

Jess didn't reply, but he heard two more shots ring out, one of which earned an enraged scream quickly followed by the sound of another heavy thump against the car and Jess beginning to cry again quietly.

"Captain Becker, we're 3 kilometers away."

"Right behind you, Major. Break off two of your men to find Connor and Abby as soon as you arrive."

"Acknowledged."

"Becker, we're fine, "Abby said. "We're half a kilometer northwest of the car park in a culvert and are staying under cover."

Becker breathed a sigh of relief at the heightened sense of self-preservation, which both Connor and Abby now showed regularly.

"Jess how are you holding up?"

Worryingly he received no reply but the slamming of car doors and shouting of voices was a very welcome addition to the comm chatter.

"Captain, we have visual on the car and the dinos though I can't see Miss Parker yet."

"I'll be there in less than a minute, Major," Becker responded shortly, struggling to keep his voice steady through the tightness in his chest.

The sharp retort of pistol fire played counterpoint with chirps and screeches from the dinosaurs over the comms. The roar of the truck's engine and Hilary Becker found himself reaching for a rosary that was no longer in his pocket and praying for the first time since leaving seminary. _Holy Mary, mother of god, please let her be all right. I'll pay any price you ask so long as she's all right._

As he pulled down the gravel road and into the car park, the head of the tactical team spoke up.

"Captain, I've got visual on Miss Parker. She's in the front of the car and appears to be unconscious.

~~oOOo~~

"There is never a time or place for true love. It happens accidentally, in a heartbeat, in a single flashing, throbbing moment." Sarah Dessen

~~oOOo~~

Author's Note: No, I'm not going to leave you hanging for long. Just till tomorrow! And for those of you complaining about how I've slowed down with chapters on this project, leave me a review and I'll point you to the other project that's been swallowing my brain!


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